Many a skier remembers the same unpleasant experience: You stumble out of a mountain chalet or little restaurant after warming up with a nice mug of tea or mulled wine, still feeling happy and basking in a warm glow, ready to tackle another exciting slope - but what the hell happened to the skiing gear?

A frantic search in the failing daylight amounts to nothing, skis or snowboard have vanished.

It remains unclear how many skis go AWOL or were actually stolen. Some experts estimated that about one third of all lost gear can be traced back to those skiers who had the odd mulled wine or schnapps tea too many.

Drunk skiers either simply take the wrong pair of skis, mix up skis or just can't remember where they put them and report them stolen, say police.

There are however some easy options to prevent that long, cold walk downhill.

Marking skis individually with your name, changing some markings or even a few visible scratches are simple but effective ways of discouraging thieves.

When stopping for some well-earned rest, skis should be stored separately from each other, as thieves often won't have the time to search for a matching pair, experts said.

But all those options ward against the drunk guy at the table next to you, who just doesn't care or can't remember. Locking your gear up with bicycle or ski locks goes a long way.

Hotel ski storage facilities should be locked, with access only by using a room key or key cards or codes plus added video surveillance being smart options, as a recent series of well-organized hotel break-ins showed.

Professionally organized gangs who raid storage facilities, parking lots, lift stations and hotels or vanish with their rental skis are an increasingly common occurrence, security experts say.

Skiers should not forget to lock the ski boxes on top of their cars, as unlocked boxes were an easy target, police warned.

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